Outcomes of International Service Learning (ISL): Alumni Perspectives

Service learning is an active method that combines academic knowledge and hands-on experience while serving a community. Service learning is well established within occupational therapy (OT) and allied health education, as many institutions have organized both domestic and international service learning experiences. Literature supports student benefits of participation in international service learning (ISL), but limited literature exists on the long-term impact of participation in ISL throughout allied health education. Many OT students participate in ISL during their education, but there is limited literature on the impact of an ISL experience on participants’ careers in OT. In this qualitative study, an online survey was distributed to past participants of an ISL trip of an OT program in the Midwest. Of the 100 subjects, 30 completed the survey. Researchers used conventional content analysis to extract themes from the data. Two themes were identified: (1) evolving professional self and (2) transformative personal experience. Subthemes of the evolving professional self theme included: (1) desire to work with vulnerable populations, (2) professional soft skill development, and (3) acquisition of knowledge and skills. Results indicate that benefits are maintained after graduation signifying that participation in ISL may have a sustained, lasting influence on OT practitioners. ISL supports the values of OT education by shaping professional identity through active, diverse learning and self-reflection to promote lifelong learning. Results broaden the profession’s understanding of the outcomes of ISL post-graduation and inform ISL best practice standards within OT education

A bioprinted cardiac patch composed of cardiac-specific extracellular matrix and progenitor cells for heart repair

Congenital heart defects are present in 8 of 1000 newborns and palliative surgical therapy has increased survival. Despite improved outcomes, many children develop reduced cardiac function and heart failure requiring transplantation. Human cardiac progenitor cell (hCPC) therapy has potential to repair the pediatric myocardium through release of reparative factors, but therapy suffers from limited hCPC retention and functionality. Decellularized cardiac extracellular matrix hydrogel (cECM) improves heart function in animals, and human trials are ongoing. In the present study, a 3D-bioprinted patch containing cECM for delivery of pediatric hCPCs is developed. Cardiac patches are printed with bioinks composed of cECM, hCPCs, and gelatin methacrylate (GelMA). GelMA-cECM bioinks print uniformly with a homogeneous distribution of cECM and hCPCs. hCPCs maintain >75% viability and incorporation of cECM within patches results in a 30-fold increase in cardiogenic gene expression of hCPCs compared to hCPCs grown in pure GelMA patches. Conditioned media from GelMA-cECM patches show increased angiogenic potential (>2-fold) over GelMA alone, as seen by improved endothelial cell tube formation. Finally, patches are retained on rat hearts and show vascularization over 14 d in vivo. This work shows the successful bioprinting and implementation of cECM-hCPC patches for potential use in repairing damaged myocardium

Facilitating Learning Online: Modeling the Skills for Reflective Practice

This study examined the interactions of facilitators in online reflective practice groups, focusing on the types of strategies used to convey these skills. Learners were found to use the skills modeled by the group facilitator, with the content of the interactions having a greater influence than facilitator style on learners’ use

Maximising the impact of global and national physical activity guidelines—the critical role of communication strategies

Objectives Physical activity guidelines are evidence-based statements on recommended physical activity levels for good health. Guidelines, in isolation, are unlikely to increase population levels of physical activity; appropriate and effective communication is fundamental to maximising their impact. The aim of this paper is to provide a planning framework for physical activity guideline communication, including an overview of key audiences, aims and approaches. Methods All authors considered and agreed on the three broad issues to address by consensus. We identified key sources of evidence through scoping of the literature and our knowledge of the research area. Results Whether guidelines are global or national, communication of the physical activity guidelines should be informed by: (1) a situational analysis that considers the context in which the communication will take place and (2) a stakeholder analysis to determine the key target audiences for the communication and their values, needs and preferences. Audiences include policy-makers within and outside the health sector, other key stakeholders, the general public, specific population subgroups, health professionals and non-health professionals with a role in physical activity promotion. The aims and approach to communication will differ depending on the target audience. Conclusion Communication to raise awareness and knowledge of the physical activity guidelines must be supported by policies, environments and opportunities for physical activity. Besides the intrinsic value of the physical activity guidelines, it is essential that substantial effort is put in to diligently planning, funding and implementing their communication from the outset

Using the value creation framework to capture knowledge co-creation and pathways to impact in a transnational community of practice in autism education

Although theories around Communities of Practice have gained significant ground in recent years and have become an important focus for organizational development, there is a gap in studies that investigate what members gain from participation in these communities. This paper explains how the value creation framework was implemented in a transnational research and development project in autism education by examining cycles of value creation and drawing on two types of data identified by Wenger and colleagues. The value creation framework is a theoretically driven framework to assess social learning in communities. Participants involved in the learning space were co-researchers engaged in a process of investigating, sharing and reflecting on their practice. The paper discusses the methodological challenges and strengths of using the value creation framework, with a particular focus on how insights and interactions led to subsequent changes in the practice of the participants. This work has the potential to make an important contribution to methods and analysis in assessing social learning and pathways to impact in participatory research and development projects more broadly

An evidence-based assessment of the impact of the Olympic Games on population levels of physical activity

Pre-Olympic Games predictions commonly include an increase in population-based physical activity in the host city, as often stated in the bid, but the post-Olympic Games effects on physical activity have not been summarised. In this Series paper, we aim to do the following: examine mentions of a physical activity legacy in pre-Olympic bid documentation; analyse existing physical activity surveillance data collected before, during, and after the Olympic Games in hosting areas around the world; and evaluate Google Trends data surrounding the London 2012 Olympic Games as a case study of community interest in the topic of exercise during the time of the Olympic Games. Before 2007, little mention of physical activity was made in pre-Olympic Games documentation, but, after that, most documents had targets for population physical activity or sports participation. The synthesis of available surveillance data indicates that there was no change in the prevalence of physical activity or sports participation, except for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano; although, the increase in participation in Nagano might not be attributable to the Olympic Games since there was no change in participation in winter sports. The Google Trends data showed an acute spike in searches with the term “Olympic” immediately associated with the London Olympic Games period and showed a sustained peri-Olympic increase in searches with the term “exercise”. By themselves, the Olympic Games have not improved population-wide physical activity but might be an important missed public health opportunity. Such a legacy will require strategic planning and partnerships across the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic, sport, and public health agencies and a thorough evaluation framework implemented throughout the pre-Olympic Games and post-Olympic Games period in the host country

Transform Autism Education - Final Report

The Transform Autism Education (TAE) project focused on the domain of ‘good autism practice’ in the education of pupils with autism in the UK, Greece and Italy with the overall objectives to:• Research good autism practice in education.• Create professional development programmes in Greece and Italy.• Enhance the knowledge and practice of school staff.• Facilitate the inclusion of autistic children in primary schools in those countries.Funded by the European Commission through Erasmus Plus Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships scheme, and led by Principal Investigator Dr. Karen Guldberg, the project involved a range of Greek, Italian and UK partners. It employed the Autism Education Trust (AET) collaborative training schemes in the UK as a founding model. While the requirements of each country were distinct, and so necessitated careful adaptations of the materials to their specific needs, what united all aspects of the project was a desire to improve the educational inclusion of autistic children, as well as their general experiences in school and their outcomes

Microbial lineages in sarcoidosis. A metagenomic analysis tailored for low–microbial content samples

RATIONALE: The etiology of sarcoidosis is unknown, but microbial agents are suspected as triggers. OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify bacterial, fungal, or viral lineages in specimens from patients with sarcoidosis enriched relative to control subjects using metagenomic DNA sequencing. Because DNA from environmental contamination contributes disproportionately to samples with low authentic microbial content, we developed improved methods for filtering environmental contamination. METHODS: We analyzed specimens from subjects with sarcoidosis (n = 93), control subjects without sarcoidosis (n = 72), and various environmental controls (n = 150). Sarcoidosis specimens consisted of two independent sets of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded lymph node biopsies, BAL, Kveim reagent, and fresh granulomatous spleen from a patient with sarcoidosis. All specimens were analyzed by bacterial 16S and fungal internal transcribed spacer ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. In addition, BAL was analyzed by shotgun sequencing of fractions enriched for viral particles, and Kveim and spleen were subjected to whole-genome shotgun sequencing. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In one tissue set, fungi in the Cladosporiaceae family were enriched in sarcoidosis compared with nonsarcoidosis tissues; in the other tissue set, we detected enrichment of several bacterial lineages in sarcoidosis but not Cladosporiaceae. BAL showed limited enrichment of Aspergillus fungi. Several microbial lineages were detected in Kveim and spleen, including Cladosporium. No microbial lineage was enriched in more than one sample type after correction for multiple comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: Metagenomic sequencing revealed enrichment of microbes in single types of sarcoidosis samples but limited concordance across sample types. Statistical analysis accounting for environmental contamination was essential to avoiding false positives

The cost of changing physical activity behaviour: Evidence from a "physical activity pathway" in the primary care setting

Copyright @ 2011 Boehler et al.BACKGROUND: The ‘Physical Activity Care Pathway’ (a Pilot for the ‘Let’s Get Moving’ policy) is a systematic approach to integrating physical activity promotion into the primary care setting. It combines several methods reported to support behavioural change, including brief interventions, motivational interviewing, goal setting, providing written resources, and follow-up support. This paper compares costs falling on the UK National Health Service (NHS) of implementing the care pathway using two different recruitment strategies and provides initial insights into the cost of changing physical activity behaviour. METHODS: A combination of a time driven variant of activity based costing, audit data through EMIS and a survey of practice managers provided patient-level cost data for 411 screened individuals. Self reported physical activity data of 70 people completing the care pathway at three month was compared with baseline using a regression based ‘difference in differences’ approach. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses in combination with hypothesis testing were used to judge how robust findings are to key assumptions and to assess the uncertainty around estimates of the cost of changing physical activity behaviour. RESULTS: It cost £53 (SD 7.8) per patient completing the PACP in opportunistic centres and £191 (SD 39) at disease register sites. The completer rate was higher in disease register centres (27.3% vs. 16.2%) and the difference in differences in time spent on physical activity was 81.32 (SE 17.16) minutes/week in patients completing the PACP; so that the incremental cost of converting one sedentary adult to an ‘active state’ of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week amounts to £ 886.50 in disease register practices, compared to opportunistic screening. CONCLUSIONS: Disease register screening is more costly than opportunistic patient recruitment. However, additional costs come with a higher completion rate and better outcomes in terms of behavioural change in patients completing the care pathway. Further research is needed to rigorously evaluate intervention efficiency and to assess the link between behavioural change and changes in quality adjusted life years (QALYs).This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund